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HARRISON, N.Y. George Marino, a Grammy Award-winning music engineer from Harrison, died June 4 of lung cancer. He was 65.
A senior mastering engineer for Sterling Sound, Marino engineered billboard-topping albums throughout the years, including "Appetite for Destruction" by Guns N' Roses, "Whitney" by Whitney Houston and "Frontiers" by Journey.
More recently, he engineered such hit albums as "A Rush of Blood to the Head" by Coldplay, "Crazy Love" by Michael Bublé and "Suburbs" by Arcade Fire, which earned him a Grammy for mastering the 2011 best album.
In a statement on The Grammys Facebook page, Neil Portnow, president and CEO of The Recording Studio, wrote: "Marino"s passion, talent, and genuine love of music was a true gift, and the music industry has suffered a tremendous loss."
Marino was born April 15, 1947. Before joining Sterling Sound in 1973, he played guitar in New York City bands. In 1967, he started working as a librarian and assistant at Capitol Studios before apprenticing in the mastering department.
While at Sterling Sound, Marino sought out a diverse range of bands, musicians and artists to work with. In a public statement on their band website, Metallica members said Marino "was absolutely crucial with his skills and guidance as he spent countless days and hours tweaking every nuance and sound" for their hit records.
Numerous bands took to Twitter to express condolences, including Anthrax, Weezer and Coldplay.
"RIP George Marino, legendary mastering engineer who made our first three albums sound better than we ever hoped," Coldplay posted.
The members of Anthrax wrote that "any decent collection of heavy metal and hard rock will be full of records he mastered."
He was married to Rose Marino for 43 years. In a statement on the Coxe and Graziano Funeral Home website, she wrote, "My heart will always beat in tempo with his and he will still keep me from falling off the Earth."
Besides music, Marino had a passion of model trains, which he shared with his granddaughter, Daria. He was also an avid trap-shooter for more than 25 years and a board member at Mount Pleasant Sportsman's Club.
Marino is survived by his wife, Rose; his daughter, Laina and a granddaughter, Daria.
Visitation hours are from 2 to 4 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. on Wednesday at Coxe and Graziano Funeral Home in Mamaroneck. A funeral Mass will be celebrated at 10 a.m. on Thursday at Resurrection Church in Rye.
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